BANI ABIDI: An Unforeseen Situation

When

20 Sep 2015 - 20 Dec 2015

Where

Dallas Contemporary
161 Glass Street Dallas, TX 75207 United States

Enquiry

(214) 821-2522

For her first solo museum exhibition in the US, pioneering video artist Bani Abidi will present an immersive site specific video installation of her 2014 work Funland (Karachi Series II) as well as a new body of videos titled An Unforeseen Situation, commissioned by Dallas Contemporary. Originally presented at the 8th Berlin Biennale of Contemporary Art (2014), Funland (Karachi Series II) considers how melancholia and amnesia become etched into the urban topography of cosmopolitan Karachi by creating a visual narrative that acts as a map of historical conjecture. In parallel, Abidi’s new work examines notions of patriotism, masculinity and foulplay through two fictional videos based on real events. They refer to a series of orchestrated mass events and spectacular individual feats hosted by the Punjab Ministry of Sports in 2014 during which multiple world records were reportedly broken by Pakistan. Picking up from the popular rumors, newspaper clippings and video footage surrounding the events, the artist spins her own version of the events as they unfolded.

The exhibition is curated by Justine Ludwig, Director of Exhibitions and Senior Curator of Dallas Contemporary.